15000 new houses for slum-dwellers in Chennai

In a move to resettle families living along Adyar, Cooum rivers and Buckingham Canal, the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) has cleared the proposal for construction of around 15000 tenements by the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board at Perumbakkam (TNSCB).

The clearance follows the TNSCB fulfilling the requirement of constructing an 18-metre-wide road near the multi-storeyed buildings. The move seeks to facilitate the resettlement and rehabilitation of 15,000 families from the city, a Hindu report said.

However, the TNSCB is planning to reduce the number of tenements proposed in the project. The construction of 27,000 tenements at Perumbakkam was proposed under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). 

The first phase of around 6,000 tenements in Perumbakkam is nearing completion, a TNSCB official told the Hindu. The multi-storeyed buildings are being constructed to resettle and rehabilitate residents of slums located on ‘objectionable' lands in the city. There are around 40,000 slum households that are categorised as ‘objectionable' and most of them are found encroaching the Adyar, Cooum and Buckingham Canal in the city.

Of the 40,000 families, around 33,000 families are along the Adyar, Cooum and Buckingham Canal.

The remaining families have been identified by the Chennai Corporation on areas on which habitations are not permitted such as government land, poromboke land, waterbodies, footpaths and canals. Improvement work such as removing encroachments and widening roads would follow the rehabilitation work.

The Corporation will soon start issuing Smart Cards to all residents of 6,000 encroachments along micro-drains such as the Mambalam Canal and Captain Cotton Canal to facilitate resettlement. Other drains along which encroachments have been identified are the Vyasarpadi, Kodungaiyur, Jawahar, MGR, Egankipuram, Jafferkhanpet, Guindy Estate, Chellamal, Nungambakkam, Trustpuram, Raj Bhavan, Reddikuppam and TVS canals.